


At Odds

by nicayal



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Coming Out, Gay Bar, Gay Male Character, M/M, One Night Stands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-15
Updated: 2015-09-15
Packaged: 2018-04-20 20:37:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4801454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicayal/pseuds/nicayal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Axel finally gets to take the cute blond from the bar home one night. It's just not his home they end up at, or the result he'd been expecting when they finally get there.</p><p>AkuRoku one-shot based on the prompt 'puffy', written for AkuRokuRiSo Month 2015.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At Odds

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt** : Puffy  
>  **Pairing** : AkuRoku  
>  **Rating** : M (for sexual situations or...whatever, I guess)  
>  **Word count** : 4,492  
>  **Prompter** : anon via Tumblr

"I can't believe I'm doing this."

The words were murmured, infused with subtle incredulity. The soft jangle of keys followed, then the click of a door unlocking.

Half an arm-length behind, Axel looked down at tousled blond hair but said nothing. Instead, he studied the posture of the young man in front of him, parsed his words, scrutinized meaning and tone. He tried to glean any sense of ongoing uncertainty, even an unspoken hint that he should turn heel and cut his losses before the night was already half done with.

He'd be disappointed, yeah, but he wasn't interested in wasting time on smalltalk, of entertaining platitudes of 'maybe next time' either. While Axel was no stranger to this impending scenario, he also recognized the signs that implied this was Roxas' first time going home with someone he didn't know — that, by extension, there was a possibility the guy would end up getting cold feet or changing his mind.

For someone this cute, it was a risk Axel had been willing to take.

His assumptions about Roxas were also contextual, considering the first time they'd encountered one another had involved Roxas surrounded by an entourage of friends celebrating his recent coming out. While plenty of closeted men who sought casual encounters preferred the relative anonymity of mobile apps, Roxas didn't really strike Axel as the type for something quite so impersonal. Instead, he'd had to chat with Roxas the traditional way during the handful of times they'd found themselves in the same bar at the same time on the same weekend nights.

While Axel tended to go alone or with acquaintances who usually split up the moment a cute guy outside of their party snagged their attention, Roxas generally arrived with friends, most of them straight, from what Axel had been able to ascertain.

Roxas might have arrived with friends this evening too, for all Axel knew. What he did know was that by the time he'd entered the bar, by the time the friend he'd arrived with had wandered off to flirt with someone who'd caught his eye and Axel had spotted the familiar blond perched on a barstool across the room, Roxas had been alone.

It hadn't taken him long to weave his way through a veritable sea of men chatting, laughing, wrapping their arms around one another's waists while they flirted and smiled and drank the night away. It'd been just as simple to sidle up next to Roxas, one elbow resting against the bar counter, a look of effortless friendliness illuminating his features as he offered to buy the next round of drinks for them both.

Feeling Roxas out had been more of a challenge. Clearly still fresh to the gay bar social scene, the newly out blond with a youthful expression and a penchant for biting the inside of his bottom lip when something Axel said brought out his inherent diffidence was a hard one to interpret. He was a good conversationist, quick to volley witty responses back at Axel's teasing, flirty remarks. He knew that much.

Whether Roxas was actually attracted to him was something Axel was having a trickier time sussing out.

Partially, it had to do with the friends Roxas usually arrived with. Axel was sure they were fine, as far as people went. Just the same, ever present, they made it difficult to flirt without sounding awkward or coming off as an outright creep. Partially, it was the fact that it'd always been Axel approaching Roxas on each individual sighting. Roxas never seemed put off by Axel's presence, at least; with the endearingly subtle hint of Midwestern accent standing out amid more common West Coaster vernacular, Axel had also considered the possibility that Roxas was regionally predisposed to being nice to anyone he encountered, however.

That was probably why it felt so fortuitous after five weeks of occasional sightings, of doing the veiled language version of dancing around the subject he actually wanted to broach when Roxas' friends were within earshot, that Roxas happened to be seated alone at the bar on this particular Saturday night.

He'd made his approach almost immediately, taking in the heart-shaped profile, the dark v-neck shirt, and form-fitting jeans with an appreciative eye.

Sipping a drink, Roxas had just returned the sweating glass back to a cocktail napkin by the time he caught sight of Axel. For a moment, he glanced down, a look of self-consciousness appearing before blue eyes flittered back up, relocating Axel who offered the one-sided grin he'd perfected for encounters of this precise nature. Roxas returned his own brand of the expression, eyes dropping again. This time the sides of his mouth rose into a faint smile a beat later.

He could get used to that reticent expression, Axel figured, at least for a single night alone together.

Sliding into the space between the bar seat Roxas was perched on and a stool occupied by another patron, Axel leaned against the counter with one forearm, eyes glancing down at the half-finished drink fingers far more diminutive than his own were currently swirling patterns into, gradually clearing the misty condensation formed by half melted ice cubes.

He inclined his head toward the glass, eyes still fixed on Roxas. "Want another?"

Tilting his chin upward, eyes widening just slightly, Roxas ran his tongue across his lips in an action Axel interpreted as wholly unconscious, given the glassy sheen of a half-focused gaze that accompanied it.

"This is already my third."

"Better make it a fourth," Axel returned, voice smooth. "I've always preferred even numbers."

As he waved over the nearest bartender and placed their order, Roxas laughed under his breath. "It figures. I like odds more."

"Oh?" Leaning in closer to Roxas, chin resting on his upturned palm, Axel fixed his beryl gaze on decorous blue, his subtle smile still playing its sinuous flirting game. "Why's that?"

As the bartender slid two drinks toward them, Roxas turned, reached for one and took an appreciative sip, mouth lingering, hovering, above the glass, breath misting its crystalline edges.

"Because," he said, glancing briefly at Axel before his gaze skirted away again, "mine always tend to be pretty good."

Taking a drink of his own cocktail, Axel studied the young man next to him in as clandestine a manner as possible. Was he being flirted with? Was this lighthearted exchange a sign of Roxas' interest or just the tipsy banter of someone who didn't mind engaging in smalltalk?

The look in his eyes, the sudden shyness, even the demure posture and small smile that kept reappearing — all indicated interest extending beyond simply platonic, in Axel's view.

Testing his theory, he leaned closer, head bowing until it came to a rest a few inches from blond hair and a narrow shoulder. He sensed more than felt Roxas tense next to him. Nevertheless, Roxas remained, didn't pull away as Axel's hand sought out one leg and gave his thigh an encouraging squeeze, savoring the sound of a hitched inhale of air as his subsequent exhalation teased the lobe of Roxas' ear.

"Okay, so, what are the odds of you coming back to my place tonight?"

While the tension in his shoulders didn't dissolve completely, Axel felt Roxas lean into him. It was a subtle movement, but one that had his cheek brushing against Axel's lips for a luxurious half second before he shifted on his seat, moving away only as far as it took to turn and meet Axel's eyes. Although his execution of a sultry expression was novice, the words that followed were more than enough to induce a vivacious heat in the depths of Axel's chest that quickly circulated outward.

"A lot lower than you ending up at mine."

After that ballsy assertion, they hadn't lingered at the bar counter beyond the time it took to finish off their drinks.

Now, as Roxas pushed open the door to his apartment, as he uttered words that seemed closer to thoughts spoken aloud than anything directed elsewhere, or at anyone in particular, Axel decided to keep quiet and assess the situation on an as-needed basis. Upon entering, Roxas held the door open, and Axel slipped through after him, blinking a little in an attempt to better see his new surroundings in the darkness that currently encompassed them.

Roxas stepped forward, navigating the room while Axel waited where he stood. Another quiet click and the soft glow of a lamp filtered into what Axel was now able to identify as the living room.

"So… "

With an understated shuffling motion, Roxas stole a glance at the man across from him and thrummed his fingers against the back of an IKEA couch as Axel's grin risked a swift return in light of what he saw as unbridled nerves. It was cute, especially in the face of so many past encounters where his partners acted so blasé he often wondered if they gave a single shit at all about the fuck forthcoming.

He made up the distance between the two of them in a few smooth steps, fixing his eyes on Roxas, hand rising, finger tracing a lazy path behind one ear on down the side of his neck.

"Now," he said, voice low, purposefully setting an anticipatory mood with the timbre of his words, "we get t—"

He was cut off as Roxas rose onto the pads of his feet, as Roxas subsequently pressed his mouth against his lips without any preceding warning. The kiss that followed was slow, maybe a little tentative. Definitely exploratory.

Inclining his head to offer Roxas a better angle, still carefully schooling a hint of an arch smile, Axel couldn't really say he minded.

The kiss was mouth moving against mouth, Axel's lips open slightly, Roxas' remaining closed. As it continued, Axel's hand trailed lower, from Roxas' neck, to the back of his shoulder then down, trailing along the curve of a gently sloping spine, secretly delighting in the full body shiver his fingers elicited as they played over the small of Roxas' back. It was the unconscious action of a mouth opening as a quiet sound escaped, and Axel taking full advantage, running his tongue over lips sweetened by drink number four, a vodka and cranberry.

After the initial hesitation, Axel felt a shift in Roxas' demeanor, felt hands slip under his shirt, fingers tickling upward, then retracing their path, nails scratching experimentally downward. He felt pinpricks at those fingers' behest, a naturally distributed electricity throughout his limbs as Roxas opened his mouth, this time actively coaxing Axel's tongue to enter with his own.

Everything about Roxas' actions felt charged, induced breathlessness; for the time being, Axel let him set the pace, following each kiss, each burning, gratifying touch, with a complementing one of his own that encouraged Roxas a little further.

Generally inclined to hurry, to ignore the dubious promises a 'maybe next time' philosophy teasingly offered, Axel found himself settling into the leisurely pace. It didn't encompass entirely avoiding the inclination to see and feel more of Roxas, however, not when his hands were this close to the temptation of bare skin anyway. Fingers furling around the bottom hem of a dark v-neck shirt as Roxas caught on and reached for the front, they pulled it up together, to his chest, to his chin, then over his head. The hesitant expression made another appearance, but Axel moved forward before it could settle, before it could blossom into doubtfulness that he liked what Roxas was now displaying. Hands running over the newly exposed skin, he began to kiss his way across a prominent collar bone, then back up Roxas' neck. Another shiver and Axel slowed, savored the feeling as Roxas pressed against his lips with tangible fervency.

Then kissing, tongue flicking, mouth suckling the spot repeatedly, Axel let his hands slip lower, past the outcropping of a narrow hip, toward the top button on a pair of low-rise jeans.

Inexperience reflected in Roxas' mimicry of Axel's actions, in how his hands followed a similar path, just a few moments behind in his attempt to relieve Axel of his shirt. The visual thrill of exposed skin, the subtle clench of abdominals, the feel of chest brushing against chest and the heat that passed between them, more than made up for it.

The same sentiment held when Roxas rose up again, pressing his lips to the base of Axel's throat, then whispered one simple word that Axel's inherent instincts needed no encouragement to wholeheartedly endorse.

"Bedroom."

Sucking in a breath, feeling the muscles in his throat tighten at the implication, Axel allowed himself be led through the living room, past a kitchen with an odd pairing of ceramic bowls on the floor, and down a narrow apartment corridor.

In retrospect, that probably should've been a tip-off. Vodka and cranberry were both probably to blame for Axel not really noticing.

As they reached the end of the hallway, Roxas took the lead, opening the door, and beckoning Axel forward.

It was a standard apartment room, based on a quick survey of the space: the bed was made and tidy, with a small desk in one corner. Any inclination Axel might've had to comment on it quickly vanished as Roxas turned to face him, eyes wide, bottom lip lightly caught beneath the enamel grip of two front teeth again. It was cute, beguiling. There was a hint of hesitation in Roxas' stance but his eyes held the same invitation Axel had first noted earlier at the bar.

They were kissing again before Axel could fully process the action, the movements mutual, every subsequent press of lips and touch of hands intentional in their aim to induce an alternating medley of heat and pleasing shivers.

For every action Axel initiated, Roxas now eagerly supplemented. For each insistent kiss, teeth responded, scraping themselves against his bottom lip. For every fluttering exploration of his hands, nails raked against the small of his back, fingertips slipping under the elastic band beneath the trim of his pants.

For every teasing brush of hip against hip that Axel initiated, Roxas paused in his own ministrations just long enough to return the gesture. Then, with slow deliberateness, he began to steer Axel over to the bed.

Roxas sat first, pulling Axel down over him, hands still trailing an inspired path along the lithe curve of Axel's back. Catching himself on flat palms, on braced elbows a few inches above blond hair and wide eyes, Axel found his own gaze fixed on blue still open and inviting a few inches below him. For a moment, they looked at one another, Axel allowing the tension to rise as he held himself still, Roxas waiting, chest rising and falling and breathless beneath him.

A deepening bend of bridged arms, and their lower bodies connected, Axel pressing against Roxas, then sliding up and away, repeating the action at a languorous pace meant to build anticipation as much as to simply make them both feel good.

Less inclined toward patience, Roxas pressed his shoulders into the mattress, lifted hips upward in a corresponding motion to grind back against Axel.

God, this kid was all kinds of addicting. Under different circumstances, if Roxas had come off as a little less hesitant at the start of their encounter, Axel wasn't convinced he'd have been quite as willing to exercise such overt patience in the face of this kind of physical encouragement.

Lowering his upper body still without touching, Axel hovered so close to Roxas he could feel the charged prickling of intangible expectation, the physical warmth radiating off both of their bodies and passing between them an unparalleled high in Axel's estimation.

He inclined his head, kissed a hot path up Roxas' neck toward one ear, then paused, exhaled a warm breath, and reveled in the elicited shiver.

"Are you a top or bottom?"

Beneath him, Roxas stilled, not so much freezing in place as settling his movements as he considered the question. Axel felt a shift, a cheek brushing against his lips as Roxas turned his head, saw blue eyes fix on him out of his peripheral vision.

"Wouldn't it have made more sense to ask about this at the bar?"

The inquiry was posed in a light tone, in a similar manner to the easy exchanges they'd already engaged in before Axel had decided to gauge Roxas' interest in sharing a night together in the first place.

Rising enough to look more directly at Roxas, Axel responded with a nonchalant shrug.

"I'm kind of a 'go with the flow' type of guy, so it didn't seem relevant."

He saw the subtle rise of brows, the corresponding widening of eyes, although the rest Roxas' expression remained level, difficult to read.

"Hence me asking what you prefer."

This time, it was Axel whose brows rose, expression expectant.

Without a word, Roxas moved beneath him, lifted his arms, and Axel felt the ghosting of fingers against his abdomen, trailing downward as Roxas inhaled, chest expanding, abdominals flexing, just the hint of a smile curving the edges of his lips.

There was a heady, intoxicating feeling building in Axel's own chest, ascending to his neck and tickling his throat. It rose from there into his face, to an extent even started clouding the edges of his vision as he waited for an answer.

"I guess," Roxas said, expression shyly reflective, eyes still fixed on Axel as one hand came to rest above the zipper of his jeans, "now's as good a time as any to figure that out."

Without another word, he pressed his hand against Axel's lap, began to rub, occasionally squeezing, slowly encouraging.

The implication hung unspoken in the air between them as Axel tried to clear the increased fog of thoughts that were scattering with the tempo Roxas' hand had set as much as from remnants of a handful of mixed drinks from earlier that evening. The longer it took for him to respond, the more hesitant Roxas' movements became, hand slowing its kneading stimulation until it was almost completely motionless.

Shaking his head a little in an ineffectual attempt at clearing his thoughts, Axel pressed his hips with increased force toward Roxas' hand, felt a spark of heat shoot into his lower spine as he noted another hand reach for him and begin tugging at the top button of his jeans.

A sharp intake of breath took more effort than he'd anticipated, and Axel paused again to consider why the air in the room felt like it was thickening, why his ears were subtly ringing and his every sense felt clouded with building pressure.

Looking up, Roxas quirked his head to the side, fingers still gripping, hovering over the fly of Axel's jeans as though waiting for permission.

"Is something wrong?"

He'd intended to respond quickly, to shake his head, offer his trademark confident smile, and put any latent concerns to rest.

Axel sneezed instead.

If that weren't awkward enough, sneezes two through six more than fulfilled the requirement, as far as he was concerned. What the fuck?

Elbows bending, Roxas pushed himself up into a half upright position, upper body braced by both forearms behind him.

"Are you okay?" The inquiry was followed up by an expression that spoke of mild amusement at the unanticipated interruption.

Feeling the irritating, increasingly familiar tingle at the back of his throat, Axel rocked back on his knees, turning his head away from Roxas as he found himself sneezing again instead of responding. This time, he was better able to pinpoint the sound still quietly greeting his ears as the jingle of a tiny bell; it was followed on the heels of a trilling mewl.

The soft padding of feet, a flash of blue, one dark blur of movement, and a small, furry creature made its presence known, landing a few feet away from them both near a pillow by the headboard of Roxas's bed.

Oh Jesus fuck, Axel thought. He has a cat.

"Oh shit." Eyes widening with realization a beat after, Roxas' words overlapped Axel's own silent commentary. "You're allergic to cats."

Before he knew what was happening, Roxas was rolling away, pulling himself up to standing. Under different circumstances, Axel might have protested.

Then again, under different circumstances, he wouldn't be half expelling a lung every time he opened his mouth to a series of involuntary wheezes.

 _Yeah, so, kid_ , Axel couldn't help but think as Roxas looked on with increasing alarm.  _About those great odds of yours_ …

o - o

Half a box of tissues and two allergy pills later, he found himself back in Roxas' living room, shirt on, pants zipped up, and seated crossed-legged on an IKEA couch. Behind him, Axel heard sounds associated with Roxas moving around in the next room, noted the bubbling boil of stovetop water, the opening and closing of drawers, and the clinking of cups.

In front of him, inhuman blue eyes watched him, slitted and suspicious from a safe distance. Axel stared back, felt the juvenile urge to shoot the four-legged nuisance a dirty look.

It wasn't like he hadn't been interrupted before. It happened sometimes, especially living with a roommate who boasted an impressive level of tone deaf obliviousness about the nature of Axel's hookups since he'd been dating the same guy for years now. Getting interrupted could be awkward, some former partners had found it off-putting, even. Generally, it encompassed just a tiny snag in the trajectory of his evening, at most.

Giving in for the shortest of seconds, Axel finally narrowed his eyes in the creature's general direction. Yeah, he'd gotten interrupted any number of ways before, sure. But this was the first time he could say he'd gotten cockblocked by a house cat. He'd probably never hear the end of it if any of his friends got wind of this, which might be harder to conceal than it sounded, given the likelihood that his eyes would bloodshot as fuck for the better part of a week and he was sporting a swollen nose that put to shame his most recent hair dye job. He probably looked like Rudolph the god damn flame-haired reindeer at the moment, and was in no way successfully resisting the urge to rub the knuckles of both hands into each corresponding eye socket.

"You know that's only going to make the swelling worse, right?"

Glancing over his shoulder, Axel followed Roxas' movement as he re-entered the room, then navigated around the couch, two mugs in hand. He passed off one to Axel before lowering himself onto a chair adjacent the seat Axel was currently in the active process of melodramatically suffering in.

Axel lifted the mug to his mouth, blew on the steaming liquid to cool it down before taking his first sip, gaze traveling to Roxas. For a moment, they looked at each other without speaking, Axel's lips pursed, open just enough to test the drink's temperature, Roxas holding his cup lower, expression subtly troubled.

"Why didn't you tell me you were allergic to cats?"

Axel shrugged before taking a careful sip, then another after confirming that he wouldn't incur second degree tongue burns. "You didn't really strike me as a cat person."

Roxas scoffed, the sound muffled as he brought the cup of tea up to his own lips, breath expelling a misted curl of steam Axel's way.

"You hardly know me."

His eyes traveled across the room to the cat. Axel followed their trajectory a beat later. The offending ball of fur had started purring under Roxas' watchful gaze, seemingly pleased about the newfound attention.

Or maybe it was just the thrill of having completely fucked up the night for both of them. Cats were vindictive little shits, in Axel's experience. It seemed entirely plausible.

Eyes still on the cat and lost in testy thought, Axel didn't notice that Roxas had risen from his chair until he felt the depression of cushion seats as Roxas settled in next to him.

"This wasn't the night you were envisioning, I'm guessing."

Axel turned, eyed Roxas next to him. He looked sympathetic, if not actually apologetic about the circumstances surrounding the recent interruption. Begrudgingly, Axel admitted to himself that he should have asked about the pet situation, given how severely miserable his symptoms got with even the hint of a feline presence within a three block radius of him. Forethought had never been his strong suit though, and asking questions of that nature sort of killed the mood in terms of excitement and spontaneity.

Axel took another sip of his tea before replying.

"So much for you and your 'pretty good' odds, huh?" The comment was murmured, lightly teasing, inadvertently lisping and nasal.

"That depends on what probabilities you're assessing." Roxas offered a small grin that Axel couldn't help but find endearing, irritatingly stuffy-nosed circumstances be damned.

"You see…" Roxas continued speaking as he reclined onto the couch, crossing one leg over the other as he made himself more comfortable. "I was banking on the likelihood of you not being a serial killer or an out-and-out pervert. Based on that, my odds still ended up being relatively solid. The streak continues."

"Okay, fine." Despite himself, Axel felt a smile begin to form. "Touché."

For a time, they remained quiet, just sitting together and smiling, sipping tea, Axel still occasionally sniffling.

Ultimately, Roxas leaned forward, depositing his empty cup on the coffee table in front of them. In the lingering fog of clogged sinuses, Axel didn't register the action, wasn't really paying attention to Roxas' movement at all — at least not until he felt a hand on his thigh. It was unobtrusive, remaining where Roxas had placed it as he looked up at Axel, his hesitancy now obvious.

"I'm not allergic to anything, as far as I know," he offered. "Maybe next time, we'd have a better shot if we went to your place."

The unspoken inquiry hung in the air between them, Roxas quietly waiting, Axel considering it. The whole point of these encounters was to keep things casual, to avoid the potential for drama that could go down if feelings developed. It meant neither person holding expectations of a repeat if they happened to run into each other again. This was all generally what he preferred.

And yet… well.

Axel looked down at Roxas' hand, still resting on his leg. Unassuming. Benign.

Before he could change his mind or reason his way to a different conclusion, green eyes trailed up until they met expectant blue still watching him. Pinning Roxas with his gaze, Axel's expression remained inscrutable. It was his hand reaching over and covering Roxas', then offering a light squeeze that provided the first hint of an answer, the words that followed ultimately confirming his decision.

"Now  _those_  are odds that have potential."

**Author's Note:**

> I almost made the summary of this fic, "Axel gets cockblocked by a cat named Xion". That seemed a little spoilery (and infantile) so I curbed the urge, but just barely.


End file.
